5 Drake songs you should actually listen to from his new albums

Drake's three new albums, Iceman, Habibti, and Maid of Honour, have set the internet aflame. As an engagement strategy, the surprise trilogy drop is supremely effective. But it's also successful as a tangible manifestation of Drake's public persona and psyche. Thematically and sonically, each project represents a different facet of the man: Iceman, his tough (debatable to some) rapper shell; Habibti his wounded lover boy heart; and Maid of Honour, his queen out club diva.

Some of the albums are more successful than the others, and we're still digesting our thoughts on each. But for now, see The FADER staff's top five songs that we think are absolutely worth hearing if you aren't interested in slogging through the 43 tracks. (Spoiler alert: Maid of Honour is our favorite of the three.)

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“National Treasures,” Drake’s most passionate track on ICEMAN, is a three-minute attempt of self preservation. Two years since his very public feud with Kendrick Lamar, there’s clearly been a lot weighing on his mind. But humiliation, allegations, lawsuits, a multi-Grammy-winning diss track, and a Super Bowl performance aren’t enough to hold the Canadian rapper back from speaking his piece.

For Drake, the dust hasn’t really settled since then; mainly, he spits about the critics and his inner circle switching up on him (“None of you pussies is actin’ the same.”) Despite it all, the fight isn’t over until he says it is. And in the meantime, he’s doing what he does best: showing out for his city and flexing his ice and racks on the ‘gram (“My mind on the money, I’m rackin’ my brain). But I can’t really take Drake’s wellness check seriously when he’s closing out with “Ironic 'cause the Iceman was a nice man, now I'm hot and cold.” Aubrey, what’s going on here? —India Roby

Forget about the laconic, droll, insecure victim-complex of Iceman, Maid of Honour is where it's at and specifically "Cheetah Print," a real freak of a song. Hearing Peggy's Gou iconic "(It Goes Like) Nanana" opening the track got me up out of my seat, but hearing the "Cha Cha Slide" interpolation — with Sexyy Red as the emcee breaking down the steps to a thottier version of the dance — sent me into straight psychosis. This is the Drake we always needed — the girls guy who will get everyone losing their shit in the club this summer. —Steffanee Wang

Sometimes a good hook can do more than a hundred punchlines, and “New Bestie” proves it. Midway through the track, it shifts into a Jersey club beat, with Drake’s patois-inflected delivery paying homage to Vybz Kartel in a callback to his More Life era. I never thought I’d say this again, but I love this Drake song! —Hajin Yoo

“I need you to put me on the loudest speaker in the house. Or put some headphones on right now.” BET. This mandate was 100% needed because “True Bestie” absolutely bumps. Drake is the king of summer smashes, and since artists have replicated the Jersey club sound again and again, Drake taps Iconic Savvy (TikTok’s princess) for Chicago ass-shaking juke. Let the countdown to summer begin. —Kylah Williams

At nearly 5 minutes, the longest track on Habibti, the R&B album of the trilogy, is a long and rambling 2 a.m. phone call, the same kind that skyrocketed Drake to fame as the annoying but endearing, down-bad womanizer during his Take Care-era. One should've been prepared for him to tote out the winning formula again for this release, as his reputation teeters on the brink of irrelevancy, but what I couldn't have been prepared for was just how much it still hits. In the nearly 20 years since Take Care his qualms about women and relationships haven't changed an iota — "Dubai does not need another Pilates studio / How can you just up and leave, and I'm not included though" is so #Drake it's funny. But when the song's contemplative second-half comes in and Drake admits "Problems always follow me," frustrated but also exhausted and resigned, a somberness falls over the song; it's no longer a caricature but just a hollow-feeling tragedy, a flash of the human underneath. —SW